Improvement in fasteners for the meeting-rails of sashes



A. CUMMINGS. Fas';ener for Meeting-Rails of Sashes.

No. 196,635 Patented Oct. 30, I877.

N-PETEHS, FKOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WA$HINGTON.' n C,

PATENT Qrrron AMOS CUMMINGS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO. HERBERT H. HAM, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN FASTENERS FOR THE MEETING-RAILS 0F SASHES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 196,635, dated October 30, 1877; application filed 1 May 23, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AMos OUMMiNes,.of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Fastening Windows; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and letters of reference marked thereon.

- My invention consists in providing an automatic catch or lock, of peculiar construction, for the swinging bar or button used in most of the ordinary window fasteners. This catch holds the button fast in its locked position,

rendering it impossible to move it from the outside by the insertion of a knife or other thin instrument between the two sashes, all as hereinafter more fully described and claimed. Figure 1 represents a top elevation or plan of a fastener to which my invention is applied. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of the same parallel to and near the front side of the fastener, showing the automatic catch-or lock, and the manner of its attachment to the Y fastener.

material, and maybe hollow on the under side,

to give lighter weight. 0 is the button of the fastener, attached to the upper surface of A, near its center, by an iron pin or rivet, c, in

such amanner that the button turns or'swings on it as a center. Nearthe front edge of B, and extending from near the middle toward the right, is a long narrow slit or hole, D, ex-

' tending vertically down through B. In this slit or opening plays the automatic catch 01,- which is a long, slim, plain piece of iron or i other metal, hung loosely by a pin or other means, in such manner that the end 7c, to the right of the point of support 8, will drop by force of gravity, forcing the other end 1 above the surface forming the catch for the button, as shown in Fig. 2, E being an end view of the button when the window is fastened. A little to the left of the middle of B, and nearer the back edge, as shown by F, Fig. 1, rises a shoulder or stop, F, Fig. 1, F, Fig. 2, from the top of which a vent of a lip projects horizontally toward the right, as shown in Fig. 2.

To understand the working of the automatic catch, suppose the button to be pulled around for the purpose of fastening the window. As it is moved along the surface of B it presses down the end l of the automatic catch until just as the button meets the shoulder or stop F, Fig. 2, when, having passed beyond the catch, the end I flies up above the surface, and close to the side of the button, by reason of the end 70 dropping on account of its greater weight. The button is thus held by the catch securely against the shoulder or stop F and under its lip.

The button is notched on one side, as shown at N, where it meets the stop F, in such manner that when the window is fastened and the button looked a sharp shoulder of the notched part shuts by the shoulder or stop F, and close against its front side, thus holding the two sashes together, so that they cannot be pried apart.

To unfasten the window, press down the catch with one of the fingers, and at the same time with the thumb move the button round to A.

Nhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The automatic gravity-catch d, in combination with the stops F. and F, and the notched button 0, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

AMOS CUMMINGS. Witnesses:

CLARENCE P. WEsToN, SAML. T. HARRIS. 

